In my master’s thesis, I address the issue of pronouncing foreign proper names, using the sports program of Television Slovenia as a case study, where such challenges are encountered on a daily basis. The central research question focuses on who determines the correct pronunciation of a newly introduced foreign name in the program, what tools are used to resolve such dilemmas, and where difficulties arise in the process. The research is based on interviews conducted with two language editors and three journalists who are directly involved in this matter and have many years of experience in the field, which allowed them to provide illustrative examples from their own practice. Through these examples, they presented the challenges of pronouncing foreign names and how they deal with them. I also carried out a short auditory analysis of a sports broadcast to test the hypothesis that journalists generally follow the established speech norm, while expert commentators and studio guests do not always do so consistently. I formed this hypothesis based on years of observing sports broadcasts, where I noticed this pattern repeatedly. In addition, I conducted a survey to gather viewers’ opinions on the importance of correct pronunciation of athletes’ names in televised sports broadcasts. I was interested in how significant a role the commentator plays in the broadcast and how critical viewers are of their performance. I further complemented the research with my own two years of experience as a journalist in the sports editorial department. The interviews show that language editors are key in determining the correct pronunciation, as they deal with such questions daily and are the main support for journalists. Although they are not officially trained phoneticians, a large part of their work is devoted to this very issue. They use numerous manuals and other resources, yet dilemmas still arise that cannot always be resolved. Names from languages with a greater number of phonemes than Slovenian pose the greatest challenge. The most reliable source is the athlete’s own introduction; however, even then difficulties occur, since some phonemes cannot be pronounced in Slovenian and must therefore be approximated. The auditory analysis confirmed the hypothesis that expert commentators often do not follow journalists’ pronunciation, which is partly understandable as they are not directly employed at Television Slovenia and their speech is not subject to the same editorial requirements, with which they are often 5 insufficiently familiar or not adequately reminded of. The survey results revealed that viewers are strongly bothered by inconsistencies in the pronunciation of foreign names. They are most critical of anchors and journalists, who have the opportunity to prepare, while being somewhat more lenient toward commentators, whose speech is often spontaneous and adapted to live events.
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